Standards Revision Process

Standards Revision Process

When it began the standards revision process in 2018, the Office of Bilingual Education and World Languages established the World Language Content Advisory Panel, consisting of leaders and experts in the fields of language acquisition and world language teacher preparation, to advise NYSED on the standards revision process. 

The Department developed the proposed revisions to the NYS LOTE Standards in partnership with numerous stakeholders, including the World Language Content Advisory Panel and ten Standards Review Committees made up of seven regional committees and three Language-Specific Committees (American Sign Language, Classical Languages, and Indigenous Languages) with over 200 members.  Care was taken to ensure participation by representatives of all regions of New York State, as well as key stakeholder groups, including teachers and administrators, experts in the field, parents and students, higher education faculty, BOCES and Regional Bilingual Education Resource Network (RBERN) staff, Big 5 school districts, and members of various professional organizations, including the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT), the New York State Association of Foreign Language Teachers (NYSAFLT), the New York State Association of World Language Administrators (NYSAWLA), and the New York State Association for Bilingual Education (NYSABE).

The Department released the proposed standards revisions to the public in February 2020, along with a survey that gathered feedback from more than 1,100 individual stakeholders across New York State.  The vast majority of respondents expressed strong support for all proposed revisions. Of the responses received, 94% indicated that they either moderately or strongly supported the revised standards overall, with 93% specifically supporting the name change from Languages Other Than English to World Languages.

Name Change from LOTE to World Languages

The regulation changes regarding the name change from LOTE to World Languages adopted by the NYS Board of Regents at their July 2021 meeting include:

• Renaming the standards to “New York State Standards for World Languages,” which amends Commissioner’s regulations to replace the term “languages other than English” with “world languages” in reference to the learning standards, pathway assessment, and course credit; 
• Renaming teaching certificate titles, as well as certification and teacher preparation program coursework requirements from “language(s) other than English” to “world language(s) other than English,” and the tenure title of “Foreign Languages” to “World Languages”; 
• Amending references to the term “foreign languages” throughout Commissioner’s regulations to read “world languages” or “world languages other than English,” as applicable; and
• Clarifying that teachers currently in the foreign languages tenure area would now be in the world languages tenure area, and any prior service in the foreign languages tenure area is included toward service in the renamed world languages tenure area.